Be a Force for Good for Ukraine

I am a humane educator, someone who teaches about the cruelties, destruction, and injustices we perpetrate on other humans, animals, and the environment and who helps people cultivate compassion and integrity and become solutionaries able and motivated to build humane, healthy, and just societal systems. It is in this capacity – rather than as an expert in geopolitics or…

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Transforming our Animal-based Food System: An Interview with Bruce Friedrich

Introduction: Bruce Friedrich is the Founder and CEO of the Good Food Institute (GFI). He is a TED Fellow, Y Combinator alum, 2021 “American Food Hero” (EatingWell Magazine), and popular speaker on food innovation. He has penned op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Wired, and many other publications. He has…

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Solutionary-focused education is the transformative approach we most need: An Interview with Katie Coppens

Introduction: Katie Coppens is an award-winning science teacher at Falmouth Middle School, the author of seven STEM-themed children’s books, and an experienced solutionary educator. In 2018 she participated in the Institute for Humane Education’s Solutionary Pilot Program, and her students shared their solutions to the problem of animal testing at our Solutionary Summit in Portland,…

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There’s a Path When Times Are Dark

I’m writing this post on the Winter Solstice – the longest night of the year. As I watched the sunrise this morning, and as the vermilion clouds put on the stunning show captured in this photograph, I felt my usual complex feelings on this day. The first day of winter, when we enter the coldest…

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Less work, more time to be a solutionary: An Interview with Veronika Perková

Veronika Perková is a Czech environmental journalist with bylines in BBC, Mongabay, and Earth Island Journal. She hosts a monthly, solutions-focused podcast, Nature Solutionaries, which tackles conservation and population issues. She is also the author of Ask Great Questions, Get Great Answers; a university lecturer on interviewing; and a wildlife illustrator. Zoe Weil: You’re a…

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Educating for Sustainability: An Interview with Jaimie Cloud

Introduction: Jaimie P. Cloud is the founder and president of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education in New York City. The Cloud Institute is dedicated to the vital role of education in creating awareness, fostering commitment, and guiding actions toward a healthy, secure, and sustainable future for ourselves and for future generations. The Cloud Institute…

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Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation: An Interview with Ariane White, Ed.D., M.Ed.

Introduction: Ariane White began working in education in 2003 as a high school teacher before earning her M.Ed. degree with the Institute for Humane Education in 2010. She earned her doctoral degree in education from Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in 2019. LMU has recently launched a Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center, which…

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Humane Education Through History, Art, and Inspiration: An Interview with Robert Shetterly

Introduction: After graduating from college and moving to Maine in 1970, Robert Shetterly taught himself drawing, printmaking, and painting, becoming an illustrator at newspapers and of approximately 30 books. After the 9/11 attacks, Rob painted a portrait of Walt Whitman, etching a quote from Whitman on the painting. Thus began his Americans Who Tell the…

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Integrating Humane Education into the High School Classroom: An Interview with Mike Farley, M.Ed.

Introduction: Mike Farley has been teaching middle and high school Geography and Environmental Studies for 20 years in the Toronto District School Board and currently at University of Toronto Schools. Over the past decade he has explored animal protection with his students, including running virtual field trips to animal sanctuaries during the pandemic. Mike is a frequent presenter at conferences…

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